Sweta Mohanty cracked the UPSC Exam in her third attempt and secured All India Rank 2 in the year 2011. Sweta says,”she belong to a family of bureaucrats as she have grown up seeing her father work endlessly for development of the state and always wanted to follow him”.
The top ranks in the 2011 Civil Services Examination have been secured by women outsmartly. S Divyadharshini, a law graduate from a middle-class family secured the first rank and second position was occupied by Sweta Mohanty, daughter of an IAS officer and is also married to IAS officer. Dr. R V Varun Kumar, a Doctor stood third and fourth rank goes to Abhiram G Sankar, an Engineer.
Sweta feels no other job as dignified as the IAS. It offers an opportunity for leadership and to work at the grassroots level. One gets a chance to make an impact on people’s lives across a variety of domains such as health, education, water, sanitation, roads and electricity. She would be interested to work in the fields of education and women welfare as she think both these areas need a lot of focus.
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Marks Obtained
| Total Marks | Marks Obtained | |
| Total (Written) | 2000 | 1103 |
| Interview | 300 | 222 |
| Total | 2300 | 1325 (57.61%) |
Family Background
Sweta Mohanty was born and brought up in Hyderabad since her father was posted in the city. Sweta’s father Prasanna Kumar Mohanty is an Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS officer of 1979-batch. Her mother, Debasmita Mohanty is a School Principal. Sweta is married to Rajat Saini, an IAS officer and have a daughter also.
Educational Background
Sweta completed her engineering in Computer Sciences and Information Technology from Gokaraju Rangaraju Institute of Engineering and Technology under Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad.
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Attempts by Sweta Mohanty
Sweta made it to the IAS in the third attempt, having failed in the first. Sweta first cleared the Civil Services Examination in 2007, she landed with the 312th rank and got selected for the IRS and has been serving in the Customs and Central Excise Department. The third attempt got her the second spot in the UPSC examination and the coveted IAS.
Optional Paper
Sweta’s optional paper were Public Administration and Anthropology. In her opinion it is very difficult to master a subject in which one has little interest. “Once you have an interest in the subject, the learning process becomes very enjoyable”, she says.
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Strategy of Sweta Mohanty’s Success
There are three things that would lead to success in this exam– passion, dedication, sincerity and hard work. If one wants to give it an honest attempt, the exam should be on your mind 24×7. There is no short cut to success. “IAS is an extremely demanding examination, but she always took it up as a challenge,” she says
Tips for future UPSC Aspirants
- IAS preparation is a continuous learning process
- Magazines such as Frontline, India Today, daily newspapers all theses help in building up a broad base.
- Every candidate with dedication and sincerity has a good enough chance to crack the exam.
- The exam is no doubt difficult, but it is not impossible.
- In order to bag top rank in the Civil Services one should be ready to put in endless effort.
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